David Laws: On making the pension system work better for women, does the Secretary of State agree that this not only about reforming the basic pension but about ensuring that there is good provision in areas such as occupational pensions? The ombudsman is considering the issue and the report is expected in a couple of months. If the ombudsman finds maladministration on the part of the Government, will compensation be paid?

David Blunkett: As my hon. Friend says, it is to his credit that he has done so.
	We are therefore at the starting point of accepting the challenge of the nation in ensuring that people are not in penury in retirement, and then moving forward to incentivise people and to ensure that they think and plan for the future. The Government will play their role alongside employers and individuals. This is not about divides between particular individuals or politicians—it is genuinely a challenge for the nation, and any party that seeks to duck it and to make party political capital out of it will be dealt with severely by the people whom we serve.

Paul Goodman: Since work and pensions questions last took place, the independent case examiner's annual report into the CSA has been published. She says, following on from some of the points made by the hon. Member for Rhondda (Chris Bryant), that referrals to her office have rocketed, that parents' experience of dealing with the CSA is demoralising, that is almost impossible for people to obtain up-to-date information about their case, that they cannot have confidence in the phone system and that she has upheld the vast majority of complaints. Bearing all that in mind, can the Minister guarantee that there will be an improvement next year, or is it the case that Ministers cannot get a grip on the problems of the CSA?

Gordon Prentice: I must tell my Friend that that is a disappointing reply. Amazing as it may seem, doctors sometimes get things wrong and they sometimes underestimate the severity of the condition that they are diagnosing. My concern is that, in some cases, the medical appeals tribunals accept the original diagnosis at face value, which can lead to injustice. My question to my Friend is this. Notwithstanding the fact that appeals tribunals are independent bodies, surely training is needed so that members of the MATs can learn from their mistakes.

Anne McGuire: First, I extend my sympathy to the family of Megan Wilcox for their tragic loss. I have received no representation from the family. I am, aware, however, that my hon. Friend has himself been in recent contact with Lord Hunt of Kings Heath, the Minister responsible for health and safety.

Tony Blair: I beg to move, That this House do now adjourn.
	Sir Edward Heath died yesterday after a long illness. I am sure that the whole House would like to join me in thanking the team of carers from Oxley Care who looked after him in the last few years. I know how grateful Ted was to them.
	There have been many handsome and well-merited tributes to Ted Heath as a Prime Minister, as a Member of this House for more than 50 years and Father of it, and as a man of vision, principle and integrity. He was quintessentially his own man. He made up his own mind and having done so, he was unshakable. But Ted Heath would have recognised, and have been proud, that it was his momentous decision to take Britain into the Common Market that would dominate the hundreds of thousands of words written and spoken about him today. He might have been Prime Minister for less than four years, but few holders of this office have made such a lasting difference to this country, its direction and its place in the world.
	Ted Heath's commitment to Europe, and his determination that Britain should be at its heart, was born of the horrors that he witnessed while fighting to liberate the continent from the evils of fascism. These wartime experiences, as they did for many of his generation, shaped him as a man and a politician. They made him determined to do all that he could to ensure that Europe was never again ripped apart by conflict.
	Ted Heath could also certainly have claimed to have been the first modern Conservative leader. He came, as we know, from a relatively humble background in Broadstairs. He was a grammar school boy and though his own hard work and intelligence, he won a place at Oxford, where he became president of the union.
	It was at Oxford that Ted Heath first showed he was prepared to be unpopular in defence of his political views, when he joined those in his party who opposed appeasement and supported the anti-Chamberlain cause in the famous Oxford by-election. He was also a supporter of the republican Government in Spain, a result of a visit during the Spanish civil war, where he witnessed first-hand the destruction caused by air attacks.
	After distinguished military service in the Royal Artillery, he was elected Member of Parliament for Bexley in the 1950 general election. Reflecting his political passion for the next half century, his maiden speech was a plea for Britain not to stand aside from Europe, but to play its full role as an active partner. He was also a founder of the one nation Tory group, which he was to personify throughout his time in the Commons.
	On coming to Parliament, Ted Heath's talents were quickly recognised, and within five years he was Chief Whip. He showed enormous skill in this post, helping to keep his party together during the difficult days of the Suez crisis, despite his own deep personal reservations. As Chief Whip, he also had a prominent role in the appointment of Harold Macmillan as Eden's successor. In return, Ted Heath was eventually promoted to the Cabinet, and soon after entrusted with the task of heading Britain's negotiations to join the Common Market. Between 1961 and 1963, he toured Europe's capitals ceaselessly, clocking up more than 100,000 miles trying to reach agreement. I understand that the main bone of contention was agricultural policy. Ted Heath very nearly achieved agreement, only to have President de Gaulle veto Britain's membership.
	Interestingly, despite the intense and humiliating frustration of rejection by France, it never altered Ted Heath's view that Britain's future was in Europe. He saw correctly that de Gaulle's opposition was in fact a reason to proceed with membership, not to abandon it—that Britain had something unique and important to contribute to Europe. He also correctly recognised that the British alliance with the United States was stronger, not weaker, by dint of European membership.
	Ted Heath's hard work and intelligence during the difficult negotiations greatly enhanced his stature within the Government and the country. Winston Churchill was among the many who wrote to him to congratulate him on his efforts. In Europe, he won the prestigious Charlemagne prize, which had a practical benefit, as he used the money to buy a Steinway grand piano, which was later to move into No. 10 with him.
	Ted Heath's music and sailing were, of course, a big part of his life. I think it is safe to say, even with the many candidates now putting themselves forward on the Opposition Benches as potential successors, that he is likely to remain the only Tory leader to conduct at the Royal Albert hall and win the Sydney to Hobart yacht race during their time in the post.
	Ted Heath's time as Opposition leader is perhaps best known for sacking Enoch Powell, a decision that required great political courage, and for appointing Margaret Thatcher to the shadow Cabinet. [Laughter.] His victory in the 1970 general election was against all the odds, but his premiership came at a difficult time for the country. He was beset by problems on the economy, on industrial relations and in Northern Ireland. He showed his integrity and leadership, however, when, despite the opposition of some in his party and outside it, he offered a safe haven to 60,000 Ugandan Asians threatened by Idi Amin, a decision from which our country greatly benefited.
	Of course, the outstanding achievement of Ted Heath's time at No. 10 was in January 1973, when he took Britain into the European Economic Community. It was a political and a personal triumph for Ted Heath, but it was not enough, for a country hit by a three-day week, to save his Government. Three and a half years later, after entering No. 10, he called an early general election, but was narrowly defeated. Roy Jenkins often used to say that the tragedy was that Labour lost the election in 1970, which it should have won, and won the election in 1974, which it should have lost. Certainly, Ted would have agreed with the latter.
	When Ted Heath lost again in October 1974, he found himself challenged by Margaret Thatcher for the Conservative leadership, and she won. For the next 26 years, he remained on the Back Benches, a familiar sight in this place. Throughout, he never flinched from arguing for the one-nation Toryism he believed in, or from putting passionately the case for Europe. Ted was very blunt in his manner, though once you got to know him he was very kind. I remember that I first met him at a parliamentary reception in the mid-1980s shortly after I became a Member of this House. He said, "Are you an MP?" "Yes", I said. "Which party?" "Labour", I said. "Well, you don't look like it or sound like it", he said. [Laughter.] "What's more", he said, "as an Opposition, you're bloody useless." He then proceeded with remarkable insight to tell me exactly what we should have been doing.
	His trenchant criticism of his own party leadership must have been very irritating for them. Being myself, for obvious reasons, generally disposed towards party loyalty, I was never sure about it. As those of us who can recall him know, he was magnificent; he would fill the House. I can picture him now, standing below the Gangway, often speaking without a note, with humour, incisive argument and magisterial disdain for the opposing view—swatting away anyone ill-judged enough to make a hostile intervention. To quote again his old Balliol friend Roy Jenkins, he was a
	"great lighthouse which stands there, flashing out beams of light, indifferent to the waves which beat against him."
	That is indeed how he was: an extraordinary man, a great statesman, a Prime Minister our country can be proud of. We shall miss him.

Charles Kennedy: Despite the sadness of the occasion, I think that Sir Edward would want the House, as both the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition have said, to remember his sense of optimism as well as his warmth and wit, and very often his wisdom. I think that the Prime Minister was right to mention on a couple of occasions Roy Jenkins. Sir Edward and Roy were two politicians whom I knew from afar. In Roy's case, I came to know him extremely well, and in Sir Edward's, somewhat. They shared so much throughout their different political careers that paralleled each other. They knew each other well, not least on the issue of Europe.
	Many of us of a further generation have been motivated by and cared passionately about Europe. We look to a politician such as Sir Edward Heath and what he achieved. We look also at the present circumstances within the democratic Europe of today, including the difficulties that it is facing precisely because of democratic choices made in recent referendums in other countries. We must contrast these difficulties—which we hope are being reconciled peacefully through discussion—with the difficulties that motivated a previous generation, the members of which saw the differences within Europe being resolved only by bloodshed and war. That motivation for them and for the founding fathers that they looked to will, I hope, be one that motivates also the generation of European leaders today.
	In many respects, as I have said, the careers of Sir Edward and Roy Jenkins ran in parallel, not only through Europe. They remained confidantes and colleagues as well as being competitors right to the end, when they went head to head in a final run-off for the chancellorship of Oxford university. After that final democratic contest between the two of them, Roy used to tell the story of Sir Edward inviting him to his marvellous house in Salisbury, next to the cathedral and proudly showing Roy round—just the two of them were having dinner together as elder statesmen.
	At one point they ended up in the master bedroom. Sir Edward pointed out the view of the cathedral spire from the window. Roy being Roy said, "Ted, I think that this must be one of the 10 best bedroom views in England." There was silence. Then Sir Edward replied, "And what would be the other nine?"
	Sir Edward, in that Denis Healey sense, had a hinterland as a politician and as a statesman. In his case it was a hinterland that can literally be described as oceanic in every sense. On a personal level, when the Conservatives went into Opposition and I found myself elected leader of my party, for a number of years I sat during Prime Minister's questions where my right hon. and learned Friend the Member for North-East Fife (Sir Menzies Campbell) now sits. Sir Edward sat where I am now standing. I have to share with the House something that for me summed him up. If there is a book to be published in future when perhaps none of us is in this place, it is the book of Sir Edward's running commentary in my right ear of the contributions in advance of my own during Prime Minister's questions, particularly his insightful running commentary of the contributions from the parliamentary Conservative party. One particular occasion comes to mind. The Prime Minister had just returned from a much-vaunted third-way summit involving Chancellor Schröder, President Clinton and Prime Minister Jospin. At the beginning of that week the French behaved in a completely unacceptable way. It was declared illegal in due course, and was very sensibly handled by the Prime Minister. It was a flouting of European law and a refusal to readmit British beef. The then leader of the Conservative party, the right hon. Member for Richmond, Yorks (Mr. Hague), was on to the issue like a shot at Prime Minister's questions. He had a cavalcade of questions and was making extremely good headway over this difficulty, understandably at the Government's expense. He finished with a great flourish, saying, that it was so much for the Prime Minister's "much-vaunted third way", and that as far as his socialist friend Mr. Jospin was concerned, it was more a "case of two fingers."
	The right hon. Gentleman sat down to great cheers and the waving of Order Papers from the more Euro-sceptical sections of the parliamentary Conservative party. At that point, sitting in the place now occupied by my right hon. and learned Friend the Member for North-East Fife, the sphinx sitting next to me moved imperceptively. He flicked a disapproving look, leaned over and said, "Such a vulgar little man." The House will adjourn today—I do not think it will divide on that proposition.
	With regard to Sir Edward, both on a very human level and on a statesman-like level, he was a gifted man, a good man and a very great man. One cannot say of many politicians of whatever persuasion that they changed the course of history, but he did, and for the better. We miss him very much.

Robert Key: My late constituent, Sir Edward Heath, was a very great Englishman. When, after just one year in this House, the Government Chief Whip asked me whether I would fulfil the unofficial role of Parliamentary Private Secretary to an ex-Prime Minister, which is traditional in our party, it led to several comments in the newspaper diaries. As has been said, it was an act of bravery, but I have never regretted taking up that challenge, because I learned that Sir Edward was not only a great Englishmen, but esteemed enormously throughout Europe and beyond as a man who was prepared to lay down his life for his beliefs. He fought against Nazism, he joined in the democratic battle, he challenged the establishment and he faced up to the realities of Britain and its economy in the 1970s. As my right hon. and learned Friend the Leader of the Opposition said, he was ahead of his time, but he achieved an enormous amount.
	When Sir Edward asked me, his PPS, to find him a house, it seemed a little beyond the call of duty. Within a few weeks, however, I had found him a house in Salisbury close. When he came down to see that wonderful house, he looked around it without saying a word, and then we drove back to London. At about midnight, he phoned me and said, "I hope that they have not sold my house." He purchased the lease and then the freehold on "Arundells", and became a figure of great affection in Salisbury and south Wiltshire.
	Anyone who doubts his capacity for being an ordinary human being should talk to anyone who ever worked for him in his private office—his constituency secretaries and his political staff, many of whom, including my hon. Friend the Member for West Worcestershire (Sir Michael Spicer), have gone on to do other things with great success and distinction. Sir Edward was held in very great affection by all those people. He inspired enormous loyalty. That is no surprise, given that he had been a distinguished musician used to holding an orchestra and a chorus together, as well as a distinguished soldier under fire.
	During his distinguished political career, Sir Edward also managed to inspire loyalty among his dear constituents, as we heard from my hon. Friend the Member for Old Bexley and Sidcup (Derek Conway). Having travelled with Ted in the capitals of Europe in the 1980s and met, with him, some of the leaders of those countries, I know that he never for one moment forgot the importance of his constituents and why he was where he was. One evening in the chateau de Rambouillet, when we had been over to meet the President of France and were enjoying his hospitality, there was a sudden flurry and the French Justice Minister turned up. He had asked to see Ted because he was engaged in a prolonged correspondence with him about a constituent who had been arrested and thrown into prison in Paris for some reason. Ted had immediately taken the case up so, when he saw the President, he told him that he was most disturbed about it, and immediately the Justice Minister was dispatched to sort it out. Ted never forgot the importance of his constituents.
	In Salisbury, where he lived for the past 20 years, he made a name for himself as the man who goes and talks to people. One will find 20 and more pubs in south Wiltshire where people will say, "That's where Ted sits", or, "That's where Ted used to come and have his malt." The enormous affection in which people in Salisbury hold him extends right across the political spectrum and the age spectrum. We should not forget the generosity with which he raised millions of pounds for Salisbury cathedral over the years to maintain that magnificent edifice, at the same time as restoring his own wonderful house.
	Sir Edward Heath has made an enormous impression on a very large number of people in many walks of life. Many tributes have been paid to him today, and I merely add my own. He was a wonderful man who was proud of his country. He loved his Queen, our constitution and our way of life, for which he was prepared to lay down his life. Right to the end, he was shouting the odds for democracy in our country.
	Yes, he had his difficulties with his successor as leader, and harsh words were expressed on all sides, but I pay tribute to my right hon. Friend Lady Thatcher for her warm tribute to him, about which he would no doubt be shrugging his shoulders.
	I do not doubt that, when we think back on the life of Ted Heath, he will be seen not only as a very great Englishman, a great democrat and a great European, but a very warm human being. Let us not forget how proud he was of his house, the paintings and every bit of china and photograph on the piano. Let us not forget how proud he was of his garden, as the greatest armchair gardener Salisbury has ever known, or that he was enormously proud to serve one with broad beans out of his precious garden, where he knew every plant, tree and shrub.
	Ted Heath was a great Prime Minister and a great member of the Conservative party. He was always loyal to our party and never voted against it in all his years, even though he may have sometimes had his disagreements with our leadership. We are very grateful for the life of Sir Edward Heath and, in Salisbury, we will remember him for a very long time as a great moonraker who was formerly a man of Kent but adopted with love in the county of Wiltshire.

Ian Taylor: Like my right hon. Friend the Member for Suffolk, Coastal (Mr. Gummer), I met Ted Heath early on in my political career. I was national chairman of the Federation of Conservative Students in 1968 when the students were rioting, and Sir Edward Boyle encouraged me to go to see the then Leader of the Opposition at Albany. I did so increasingly; I went once a month. One of the people who opened the door to his flat, who subsequently became Foreign Secretary, was Douglas Hurd, now Lord Hurd. He was very encouraging to me.
	Ted Heath came to the national conference of the Federation of Conservative Students on a day that was not necessarily his best. He was in one of his more taciturn moods. Those colleagues who remember Ted in one of those moods know that it was quite hard work sometimes to keep the conversation going. Some 20 people were introduced to Ted, and he grumbled and grunted and I tried to animate the conversation. As he left—everyone had disappeared—he broke into a broad smile, shifted his shoulders in his typical way and said, "Hmm, not bad. I agreed with some of the views that you gave to these people. I must make use of you more often."
	That was one of the more difficult periods, but I should point out that although Ted was unfailingly encouraging, he was also a hard taskmaster. I was lucky enough to sit on the policy committee between 1970 and 1974, which was chaired by Chris, now Lord, Patten. Ted showed great concern about the way in which policy had to shift in reaction to some very difficult events, such as the problems with the unions and with Rolls-Royce. He did not take those decisions easily. Those of us who argued their case within that committee—I, for my part, was a very lowly person—were nevertheless part of those discussions, which provided a real insight into, and showed concern for, the state of the nation. Moreover, as others have said, Ted had a deep understanding of the problems of unemployment. To some extent, unemployment is no longer a focus of political debate, but in the period 1970 to 1974, Ted, remembering the 1930s, took very seriously and was pained by the problems that he had to face.
	I entered the House in 1987, and Ted always encouraged me. I have possibly been known as a pro-European, and I remember making what for me was a passionately pro-European speech, much to the irritation of one or two of my colleagues. As I passed Ted sitting in the Chamber, he nodded to me, so I sat down in the seat next to him. He said, "Hmm. Not really pro-European enough." But when I later became chairman of the European Movement, he was unfailingly supportive and was ready to make speeches and to go anywhere. He wanted to ensure that there were those of us who carried the torch for his insight—an insight into the importance of Britain's playing its part, with other European nations, in providing a structure to resolve crises that, in his earlier years, could be resolved only by terrible conflict.
	Ted was a great man and he did have that hinterland. In a sense, it was an irony that he was taken more seriously after attending the Salzburg music festival. It was his interest in music that drove him forward. Those of us lucky enough to have visited his homes in London and Salisbury remember how central music was to his whole persona, to his wit and to his amazing stories about the people whom he had met, particularly in China, which became a very important part of his life.
	The Prime Minister mentioned something that illustrates Ted's political courage. Ted was an early member of the "One Nation" group, of which my late father-in-law, Lord Alport, was also a founder. What is sometimes forgotten is that Enoch Powell was a member of that group in the 1950s; indeed, he was its secretary. Many years later, in the 1960s, when Ted dismissed Enoch Powell from the Tory party, it was an old friend whom he was dismissing, which made that decision even more remarkably courageous.
	Ted was a man of principle. He had views, based on decency and one-nation politics, that many of us in the Tory party still hold. He was a great statesman, a great Member of this House and a great individual. I shall miss him a lot.